[_Withdrawing her hand._] Oh, but please wait!
POLLITT.
Wait!
SOPHY.
I mean, I certainly couldn't dream of accepting the attentions of any
man until he fully understood--
POLLITT.
Understood what?
SOPHY.
[_Summoning all her dignity._] Oh, I'll be perfectly straight with
you--until he fully understood that, whatever my station in life may be
now, I have risen from rather--well, I may say _very_ small beginnings.
POLLITT.
What matters that?
SOPHY.
Oh, but I beg your pardon--it does. [_Relaxing._] I am sure I can depend
on you not to give me away all over the place?
POLLITT.
Miss Fullgarney--!
SOPHY.
[_After a cautious glance round._] You know, Mr. Valma, I was always a
self-willed, independent sort of a girl--a handful, they used to call
me; and when father died I determined to have done with my step-mother,
and to come to London at any price. I was seventeen then.
POLLITT.
Yes?
SOPHY.
Oh, it's nothing to be ashamed of, really; still, I did begin life in
town--[_with an uneasy little laugh and a toss of the head_]--you'd
hardly believe it!--as a nursery-maid.
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